Edok Paper 2

Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 44(7), 2007 Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/pits.20259

USING NATURALISTIC PROCEDURES TO ENHANCE LEARNING IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM: A FOCUS ON GENERALIZED TEACHING WITHIN THE SCHOOL SETTING
RICHARD J. COWAN

Kent State University
KEITH D. ALLEN

Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation University of Nebraska Medical Center Children with autism often have difficulty successfully applying newly acquired skills to novel situations. Naturalistic teaching procedures have been developed to help address this problem with generalization. These naturalistic procedures promote generalization through the use of natural consequences, diverse training, and the incorporation of mediators. The purpose of this article is to define these tactics and then describe and review three popular naturalistic teaching approaches: incidental teaching, pivotal response training, and script-fading. The article will also review the research support for these procedures and conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), autism is characterized by qualitative impairments in social interactions and communication coupled with restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. Due to the pervasiveness of these symptoms, children with autism often perform poorly in school and various community settings. Indeed, providing educational programming and positive behavior supports for students with autism is a challenging endeavor for educators and school psychologists alike. The need for comprehensive, evidence-based teaching and behavior management strategies for children with autism has prompted decades of research in the... [continues]

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